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BRC
Sponsors Dewey Symposium
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The
BRC's Dewey symopsium
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On May 1, the
Boston Research Center for the 21st Century cosponsored
"Humanistic Education: Beyond the Traditional/Progressive
Debate," a symposium commemorating the 50th anniversary
of the death of John Dewey. The event was held at the Harvard
Graduate School of Education in Boston.
Dr. Larry A. Hickman, director of the Center for Dewey Studies
at Southern Illinois University, which cosponsored the
symposium, stated that the purpose of education is not to
impose values on others but, rather, to allow individuals to
learn what is genuinely valuable through personal experience.
Dr. Nel Noddings, the Lee L. Jacks professor emeritus of child
education at Stanford University, noted that the core of
humanistic education is having consideration for others'
feelings and showing it through one's actions.
Monte Joffee, principal of the Renaissance Charter School in
New York, reported on the results of implementing Soka
education, based on the value-creating educational theories
and practices of educator and first Soka Gakkai president
Tsunesaburo Makiguchi. Mr. Makiguchi, who believed that the
aim of education should be children's happiness, emphasized
that education should foster children's inherent potential,
wisdom and strength, thereby enabling them to contribute to
society later on. Mr. Joffee stated that, by applying
Makiguchi's philosophy of value creation, he was able to
experience firsthand how helping a single student realize his
or her inherent potential can make a difference in the
classroom.
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